Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Up to 200 malnourished Iraqi detainees bearing signs of torture have been found in a secret prison in the basement of a Government building in Baghdad.

The discovery of the prisoners came after American troops surrounded and took control of an Interior Ministry building in the Jadriya neighbourhood of the capital on Sunday night.

When American forces arrived at the facility, officials there told them there were 40 detainees being held. As they moved through the building they discovered at least 200 prisoners, mostly Sunni Arabs and many in very poor health. The Americans had apparently been tipped off to the prison’s existence by relatives of those being detained.

Official announcement of the discovery came just a day after damning United Nations report into the brutal conditions and lack of access to legal counsel in Iraq’s overcrowded jails. The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq expressed concerns about the large number of detainees and suggested that Iraqi police and special forces had abused the human rights of suspects during security sweeps….

Not sure if the story has been pulled or if if the Times Online is experiencing website difficulties, but only a blank area is appearing at the moment.